Protect Our Rivers

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The Two Go Hand-in-Hand

Most people realize that the hot water heater in their home uses electricity or natural gas, but even before water reaches your home, supplying and treating it requires a significant amount of energy.

Pumping water from its source through extensive networks of pipes to treatment plants then on to consumers’ homes and businesses consumes significant energy.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program, “American public water supply and treatment facilities consume about 56 billion kilowatt-hours per year—enough electricity to power more than 5 million homes for an entire year.” Water savings mean energy savings and that means less greenhouse gases produced from power plants.

If every other American home replaced their older inefficient toilets, faucets and showerheads with new >WaterSense (a certification similar to EnergyStar) appliances, the country could save about 5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year–avoiding 4 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

That is equivalent to removing nearly 750,000 automobiles from the road for one year!